Andrew Gale: Roses clash is perfect time to turn things round with the bat

IF you could chose a game to put your own form right in, then you would definitely choose a Roses game.

Personally, I have not had a run like this in terms of not getting runs throughout my Yorkshire career and I am scratching my head to find out why.

I have been working hard and have just got to keep trusting what I do, hence why I am will be playing for the second team at every opportunity.

But if I can finish the season with a few hundreds for Yorkshire, then people won’t remember the early part of the year and that’s my aim, to do it at the business end of the season.

All I can do is keep working hard and hopefully it will turn. If it doesn’t, I can hold my hands up and say that I haven’t left any stone unturned.

It has been one of the most difficult spells of my career and a bit of a shock to the system in terms of not playing any white-ball cricket.

That is not something I am used to, usually if you are struggling with the red ball, then the white ball can help you get back into form.

It is something I will have to get used to, even if it’s a bit of a shock to the system. I felt at The Oval that it was starting to turn the corner with my 61. But then there was two and a half weeks between games, which was not ideal. I will have to get used to it, I guess.

I got a few runs for the second team this week ahead of the Lancashire game and made 75 in the first innings and we made the opposition follow on and it’s done it’s job.

I came in and spent some good time in the middle and hopefully I can use that to get into some form at Old Trafford.

Jake Lehmann has come to Yorkshire for the rest of the season and while I do not know too much about him, to be quite honest, I do know that he has a good record.

He seems quite inexperienced and hasn’t played a lot, but when he did play last year, he did well for South Australia.

The situation isn’t ideal with Travis Head going away at a drop of a hat to Australia and we didn’t really expect or see it coming. It was always a case of finding someone in his mould to get on board as soon as possible.

At this time of year, it is very difficult to get experienced overseas players and we have taken a punt on Jake, but we hope that will pay off and that he will score a few runs and win us a few games.

I know Jason rates him and in terms of Jake, it will be good for him to come out of his dad’s shadow and make a name for himself in his own right without his dad; legend of Yorkshire cricket that he was.

Jake will be wanting to make his own legacy, if you like.

Obviously, it was a very dramatic win for us over Warwickshire at Headingley and it was a terrific game and plenty in the pitch.

It was actually an interesting pitch and it did a lot more than I thought it was going to do. We were hoping that there was going to be a bit more grass, but there was real pace and bounce and it did enough all game and it was one of those pitches where you never felt quite ‘in’ and it also turned from day one as well and got Adil Rashid in the game.

So it was a good pitch and we had to perform well on it and we did.

The partnership in the first innings from Patto and Sidey got us to a reasonable total and then Leesy played really well in the second innings and the bowlers were outstanding throughout the whole game.

To have Ryan and Jack Brooks back in the team and in action together with the new ball was great and they were brilliant.

We have said that if we are going to win the County Championship again, we need to win all our home games and those sort of performances at Headingley are the ones that we need and with Ryan and Brooksy back in action with the new ball, then they always pick up wickets.